Feederick j



(No Model.)

F.. J. SEYMOUR.

METHOD 0N MAKING GUNS AND ORDNANGE.

Patented Jan. IO

N4 PETERSY Photvmhogmphnr, Wnhiugnn, D. C

UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE.

FREDERICK J. SEYMOUR, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE BROVNSSEAMLESS METAL COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

METHOD oF MAKING GUNS AND oRDNANoE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 376,168, dated January10, 1888.

Application tiled June 15, 1885. Renewed June 17, 1887. Serial No.241.612. (No model.)

within another to form a cannon or piece of ordnance, whereby a verystrong gun will be produced.

In carrying out my invention I irst produce a number of seamless drawnmetal tubes or cylindric shells which are of such relative size thatthey may be slipped easily one`within another, and .which have theirsurfaces iin-V ished in the operation of drawing, and I afterwardcontract the several tubes or shells one upon another, so as topermanently connect them, each tube or shell forming the mandrel uponwhich the next outermost tube or shell is contracted and secured;

In carrying out my invention the contraction of the metal tubes orshells may be effected by an operation analogous to spinning, or byforcing the tubes through a die ofsuitable size by a proper mandrel, orI may secure the tubes one upon another by means of a machine similar tothat shown in my application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 166,833,iled May 27, 1885.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents in sectional view twotubes or shells arranged one within another and such parts ofa machinesimilar to that described in my aforesaid application as arenecessarytoclearly illustrate the invention; and Fig. 2 represents a sectional Viewof three tubes secured one upon another and forming a gun, which onlyrequires the addition of a trunnion-band to complete it.

Similar letters of reference designate corre Vspending parts in bothfigures.

The gun represented in Fig. 2 is composed of three separate tubes orshells, a b c, which are made of iron or of a mild steel, or which may,in the case of brass ordnance, be ymade of drawn brass. These tubes orcylindricshells are formed from disks or circular plates of metal of athickness much greater than the shells or tubes are to have wheniinished. The method offorming them may be that commonly practiced inmaking drawn seamless hollow tubes of metal, and I prefer to make themby the method described in Letters Patent No. 316,600, granted April 28,1885, to W'illiam Henry Brown, and which consists in subjecting themetal to the principal operations of drawing or folding in a heatedstate and to the later operations of drawing in a cold state. Accordingto this method the disks. or circular blanks of metal are heated andtirst dished up by machinery commonly used for such operations. They areagain heated and pushed through dies by means ot' cylindric plungers ormandrels,and this operation,commonl y used in drawing hollow cylinders,is repeated as many times as may be necessary for each tube or shell,using smaller and'smaller plungers or mandi-els and corresponding diesin the successive repetitions ofthe operations until the tube or shellis of -the requisite caliber exten nally and internally. The last fewpasses of the tube orshell on the mandrel through the die are made withthe metal inra cold state, in order to condense or harden the meta-l andincrease its tensile strength,and that in the case ofthe innermost tube,a, the interior of said tube may be smoothed and liard-nished toconstitute the bore of the gun Without further finish.

Of the several tubes a b c required to form a gun or cannon theinnermost one is of the full length of barrel, and the outer ones may besuccessively shorter,so that all their several thicknesses are combinedonly in and near the breech, where the greatest strength is required,and the walls of the barrel of the gun are gradually thinner toward themuzzle, where least strength is required.

The several tubesor shells are made of such size that when complete andfinished by the operations of drawing they may be slipped one insideanother.

In Eig. 1 I have represented a part of the apparatus whereby the tubesmay be contracted one on another. In the figure, B designates a mandrelorspindle, which may be supported IOO in suitable bearings, (not showin)and receives rotary motion by bevel-wheels B B2 from a drivingshaft, B3.I have also represented a binding-screw, C, which is concentric with themandrel and has at its lower end arotary footpiece or stcadiment, G', bywhich the one or more tubes or shells may be clamped upon the mandrelI3, so as to rotate therewith.

H designates a slide or a portion of thecarriage to which is tittcd insuitable bearings, g, a spindle, 7L, provided at its lower end with aspinning tool or disk, 7L. By means of mechanism such as described in myaforesaid application for Letters Patent the spinning tool or disk istraversed from top to bottom of the tube Z), at the same time beingpressed forcibly against the outer circumference thereof, and as themandrel, with the tubes upon it, rotates the spinning tool or disk hcontracts the outer tube or shell, b, upon the inner shell, c, andpermanently seeuresit thereon. Consequently the two tubes orshcllsjvhich were previously slipped one upon another will bepermanently connected, the inner tube, c, constituting the mandrel uponwhich the next outer tube, I), is contracted or reduced. This operationis to he repeated one or more times with each tube b c as may be foundnecessary, and in this way the tubes or shells are contracted and causedto bind or grasp firmly upon the tube or shell which is next innermost.After the required number of tubes or shells to form a gun ofthenecessary strength have been secured one upon another, as described, atrunnion-band may be secured upon the shells by shrinking orotherwise tocomplete the gun.

I am aware that it is not new to produce a vessel made of layers orthicknesses of two or more metals by first spinning one metal to thedesired shape and then spinning a disk ofanother metal to change itsform, so that it will closely hug the exterior of the vessel. Such amethod of making composite vessels is described in the patent grantedPhilip I. Meyer, January l, 1867, and numbered 60,770. My process ormethod differs from that described in Meyers patent in that I firstproduce all the component parts of my gun in the form of drawn cylinderseach having its internal diameter but slightly greater than the externaldiameter of the cylinder which it is to receive. Before the process ofcontracting them one upon another is performed they are all produced inthe form of cylinders, and all have the close texture and the extremelyhard surfaces which can be obtained only by drawing, and cannot beobtained by a spinning operation whereby the metal is changed in formfrom a disk to a cylinder.

Vhat I claim as myinvemion, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The improvement in the method of making cannon or ordnance, consistingin producing a number of cylindric drawn tubes or shells cach having itsinterior and exterior surfaces finished in the operation of drawing, andthe several tubes or shells heilig of such relative diameters that theymay be slipped one upon another, and in afterward contracting theseveral tubes or shells by successive operations one upon another, eachtube or shell forming the mandrel upon which the tubeor shell nextoutermost is contracted, substantially as herein described.

FREDK. J. SEYMOUR. TVitnesses:

I. XV. PAYNE, M. P. Scans.

